Mario Batali in "La Traviata"

Mario Batali appeared as a supernumary in the City Opera performance of La Traviata at BAM yesterday afternoon.

It's surprising, since Batali's playlists give no indication that he's any kind of opera fan.

He wore a white wig and sort of milled around in the two party scenes. He at least moved his mouth so as to seem to be singing along with the chorus; whether he was or not is a question the audience couldn't answer.

It's funny. Given current opera's perference for lithe slender body types, Batali was by far the heaviest person on the stage. All the opera singers were much slimmer.

There was no particular acknowledgement of him. I had thought he'd be given a special bow. He wasn't.

I wasn't there and didn't see it, but it was Batali. I saw an ad or some such yesterday when I was looking up something on the interwebs. Maybe it was Eater? The thing had an obviously Photoshopped picture of him in his standard shorts, vest, and clogs standing downstage center of a bunch of people all in late 16th or early 17th century wigs and gold and white clothing, and mentioned he would be a party guest in scene in an opera at BAM.

the people who flock to dine at the restaurant on account of its reputation/stars are getting their money's worth because what they are after is a piece of the reputation/stars and nothing else. their money is not wasted. -- mongo jones, 11/5/2014

“One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. 'Oh, no!', I said, 'Disneyland burned down.' He cried and cried, but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.”
~Jack Handey

I think that L.A. critic was so busy obsessing about black people that he lost track of the Caucasians.

You'd think they'd be sooo over black people in LA, by now.

“One thing kids like is to be tricked. For instance, I was going to take my little nephew to Disneyland, but instead I drove him to an old burned-out warehouse. 'Oh, no!', I said, 'Disneyland burned down.' He cried and cried, but I think that deep down he thought it was a pretty good joke. I started to drive over to the real Disneyland, but it was getting pretty late.”
~Jack Handey